EARLIER: They’ve announced this year’s Razzie winners. Coppola won Worst Director.
The 2025 Razzie Awards “ceremony” is happening on Saturday, and Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” is tied for the most nominations, including Worst Picture and Worst Director. Given the history of this dubious awards organization, Coppola’s epic might very well “win” in every category.
Coppola has now gone on his Instagram to “accept” the Razzie nominations, and backhandedly slams the notion that a film, such as his, which strives to break the installed rules of cinema, would ever care about such nonsense:
I am thrilled to accept the Razzie award in so many important categories for Megalopolis, and for the distinctive honor of being nominated as the worst director, worst screenplay, and worst picture at a time when so few have the courage to go against the prevailing trends of contemporary moviemaking!
In this wreck of a world today, where ART is given scores as if it were professional wrestling, I chose to NOT follow the gutless rules laid down by an industry so terrified of risk that despite the enormous pool of young talent at its disposal, may not create pictures that will be relevant and alive 50 years from now.
What an honor to stand alongside a great and courageous filmmaker like Jacques Tati who impoverished himself completely to make one of cinema’s most beloved failures, PLAYTIME! My sincere thanks to all my brilliant colleagues who joined me to make our work of art, MEGALOPOLIS, and let us remind ourselves us that box-office is only about money, and like war, stupidity and politics has no true place in our future.
Razzie nominees are determined by members of the Golden Raspberry Foundation. All you have to do to join the voting body is pay a fee ranging from $40 (for two people) to $500 (lifetime membership). You don’t even need to have seen all the movies to vote.
So, unidentified voters, with unknown qualifications, have the power to take down any movie, actor or actress of their choosing. You have 1200 Razzie members (movie buffs, film critics and journalists) from 49 States and about two dozen foreign countries, who somehow have that power.
Hate to break it to “Megalopolis” detractors, but the film is probably going to have a long shelf life; You be the judge if it’s for the right reasons, but the film has cult classic written all over it. The question remains whether Coppola’s absurdist epic has genuine artistic merit, or if it’s a foolish folly.
Coppola probably lost well over $100M making “Megalopolis.” Of course, commercial success does not equate to quality of art, and vice versa. However, if critics have been generally split on “Megalopolis,” the average moviegoer doesn’t know what to make of it; The film’s exits have resulted in a D+ CinemaScore, 1/2 star and 45% positive on PostTrak, and a 5.4/10 on IMDb.
It’s not that far fetched to state that “Megalopolis” is unlike any film you’ve seen before. Every frame, every line of dialogue in the film is uniquely conceived. It’s consistently filled with scenes where you’re not sure whether to take it seriously or laugh. I’m glad we live in a world where “Megalopolis” exists.
Nobody expected a 55-year-old NC-17 movie to be one of the surprise box office stories of the fall. Yet here we are, and this absolutely puts a smile on my face.